let your heart speak up
by champion lyra
Summary: Truthfully, Yusaku still didn't particularly care about the holiday known as Valentine's Day. Throughout his entire life, it had been completely inconsequential. Even once he had begun officially seeing Ryoken, it hadn't really crossed his mind. —DataStormShipping, RyokenYusaku. For DataStorm December 2019!


**Notes**

Yay, it's DataStorm December! I've got to post this really fast before heading off to work, but I've written **five **oneshots for my OTP week, and I hope you guys enjoy them all! This one was kind of funny to write, idk why I end up writing about Valentine's so much? I just like the trope I guess pff.

Anyways, here's my first one shot, for **day 1: **baking!

* * *

"I can't believe you've never done this before," Aoi said, placing the bowl down on the counter. "You and Kogami have been dating for almost three years now."

It was a fact that kept coming up, Yusaku realized, as he sighed for what felt like the fourth time since he arrived at the Zaizen residence. "It's never really been on my mind," he told her again, just like he had when she first mentioned it. "Can we get started now?"

Truthfully, Yusaku still didn't particularly care about the holiday known as Valentine's Day. Throughout his entire life, it had been completely inconsequential. Even once he had begun officially seeing Ryoken, it hadn't really crossed his mind. The only reason he was doing this in the first place is because of something Spectre had said to him the other day, and he hadn't been able to get the taunt out of his head since.

It was a bit ridiculous how easily riled up Spectre could still get any of them, but Yusaku was regretting the fact that he'd let the other boy get to him in this particular circumstance. Working in the kitchen was not really his thing. He'd been helping Kusanagi out at Cafe Nagi for the better part of five years, and even still, he often ended up being reduced to cleaning duty since he had a tendency to burn the hot dogs.

Baking, especially, was a foreign concept to him. Baking something as delicate as _honmei chocolate _was completely out of his league.

And yet here he was, standing in Aoi Zaizen's kitchen with his Cafe Nagi apron on, trying to make his boyfriend of almost three years some heartfelt chocolate. All because of a stupid comment that _Spectre_, of all people, had made the other day.

_If you don't show Ryoken how much he means to you this Valentine's, he just might get sick of waiting, you know_, Spectre had told him casually, shrugging a little when he'd spoken. _Wouldn't want him running off with someone else, would you?_

It was _completely _ridiculous. It was a completely ridiculous notion, even, to think that Ryoken didn't feel like Yusaku wanted him. They lived together, they spent almost all of their free time together, and in the near-three years they'd been together, had told each other how they felt more times than Yusaku could count. The very idea that somehow, Ryoken didn't feel like Yusaku cared about him enough to stay with him was utterly ridiculous.

And yet.

And yet he watched with careful eyes as Aoi gathered the necessary ingredients onto her massive kitchen counter. And yet he had even gone about _asking _in the first place for his somewhat friend to show him how to bake some chocolate for the upcoming romantic holiday.

Even in the bottom of his heart, Yusaku had known Spectre hadn't been being serious. For some reason or another, though, the comment continued to bother him until he'd caved and sought out Aoi for some help. He was perfectly secure in his relationship with Ryoken - not once had Yusaku felt like the other boy was going to leave him or didn't care for him - but the thought of him not being satisfied in the same way stung.

Yusaku knew he wasn't exactly normal, or a perfect or even average boyfriend. It had taken them almost two full months to hold hands on the regular, and they'd only just moved in together over the last six months despite being capable of doing so sooner. He was still awkward, and had trouble talking about things in a way that normal people just… wouldn't. Not once had that ever made him feel insecure before, but having it be brought up so casually by someone Ryoken considered family had left him lingering on the thought.

"You ready?" Aoi asked, snapping him out of his reverie. When Yusaku nodded, she smiled. "Alright. We've got all night, so don't worry about messing up."

It wasn't a perfect solution, nor did Yusaku really think it would help, but at least it was worth a try.

* * *

"Verdict?" Yusaku asked, an unexpected feeling of nervousness making his stomach turn.

This was his third batch, and as they started creeping into the early morning hours, Yusaku hoped this would be the last. It wasn't even that he was getting tired; just frustrated. The first batch he'd burnt terribly, and the second batch had tasted _awful_ \- he'd been amazed Aoi hadn't gagged when she tasted it for him.

He watched, trying to not get his hopes up as Aoi plopped one into her mouth. How she could do so without flinching after that last batch was beyond him. She chewed slowly, and Yusaku held his breath.

When she nodded and gave him a small smile, he released it, feeling some of the tension that had been building over the night fade away slowly. "It's pretty good," she said, nodding again. "Kogami will definitely like it."

_Pretty good _wasn't perfect, but it was good enough for now. "Now we wrap them?" He asked, glancing at the supplies that Aoi had set off to the side before they'd began. There were all sorts of candy wrappers in different colors, and he had to wonder how many tries Aoi made each year before being satisfied with her own chocolate.

"That's right," Aoi said, turning around to pluck a few colors out. "And then you're all set to go home."

Looking at the clock, Yusaku frowned. It was almost two in the morning, and they were both busy people. He almost wanted to apologize for how late he'd kept them up. Obviously, as Blue Angel, Girl, and Maiden, Aoi was used to lack of sleep and staying up until odd hours to get something finished, but he didn't like the fact that it was something as stupid as his insecurities keeping them both up this time around. Though he was sure she would disagree, Yusaku wasn't even sure if she would consider Aoi a friend. At least, not in the same way as Takeru or Kusanagi were his friends.

Neither of them said anything for a moment, but something in his face must've given him away to Aoi. She smiled at him again, pushing the container of supplies at him over the counter. "Thanks to you, I got my chocolate done, too," she said, gesturing to her own chocolate, which still needed to be decorated. "Let's decorate and finish so we're not up too late, yeah?"

* * *

The last time Yusaku had felt this nervous with Ryoken was when he had confessed to him, in all honesty. The longer the day had went on, with the chocolate in its special box in his bag, the stupider and stupider he felt.

Really, there was nothing to suggest that Ryoken was growing unsatisfied with the level of intimacy he was capable of handling. So far, the day had been normal - and the way Ryoken looked at Yusaku hadn't changed at all. The more hours Yusaku spent watching his boyfriend carefully, the more foolish he felt.

Now, though, he felt like he would be disappointing Aoi if he didn't give Ryoken the chocolate she'd worked so hard to help him make. It was an added guilt that Yusaku wasn't ready to have hanging on him, and so finally, before Ryoken headed out to meet with the Knights of Hanoi, Yusaku stopped him at the door.

"Ryoken," he said as a means of getting him to wait, fiddling with the box behind his back. "Happy Valentine's."

Ryoken raised an eyebrow, but smiled at him regardless. "I'm surprised you even remembered," he teased, a small smirk creeping up onto his face. "You've never been terribly good at that."

Yusaku scowled, and shoved the box at him a bit more aggressively than he intended. "Whatever." He was definitely pouting, but he refused to admit it. "I made you chocolate."

_That _wiped the smirk right off of his boyfriend's face. For a few moments, the older boy just stared at the box a bit dumbfounded, his mouth hanging slightly open. It was a rare sight, and Yusaku relished in it for as long as he could.

"You made me chocolate?" Ryoken finally asked, gingerly taking the box from Yusaku's hands.

The packaging wasn't anything fancy; Aoi had told him he could use whatever she had on hand but he hadn't wanted to take the nicer looking boxes. The chocolate themselves were what was fancy - truffles of different colors sat in green and white wrappers on the inside. They weren't exactly professional looking, but they'd been handmade by him for Ryoken, so Yusaku figured it was good enough.

"Mm," he finally responded, looking away from the awe in Ryoken's eyes. Maybe he should've tried a little bit harder in the past, since he was clearly so touched by the gesture. The guilt and insecurity that had been gnawing at him thanks to Spectre came back full force in that moment. "They should be at least edible."

According to Aoi, they were more than edible, but Yusaku still couldn't figure out if she had just said that to be nice or not.

Slowly, Ryoken removed one from the box, marveling at it a little. While Yusaku was glad he seemed to be so… excited by it, he couldn't help but feel completely and utterly awful. They'd known each other since they were little kids - kind of, sort of at least - and had been together for very nearly three years, and yet somehow, Yusaku had never thought to do such a simple gesture for him.

Part of it really was that he never thought about these holidays much. The only time he did was when Ryoken wanted to do something, and he was always happy to if Ryoken asked, but not once did he think to ask first. It was so obvious, now, he almost wanted to punch himself.

Maybe Spectre had been right. Maybe Ryoken really _had _been disappointed by how Yusaku was, and that made the churning in his stomach even worse.

"This is really good," Ryoken said, snapping Yusaku out of his thoughts. "I can't believe you made these."

Taking a quick glance at the box, Ryoken had already devoured three of the eight chocolates Yusaku had deemed worthy. Despite himself, he rolled his eyes. There were a lot of things he wanted to say, and under most circumstances, he'd probably keep them to himself. Today, however, with his insecurities that Spectre had planted eating him from the inside out, Yusaku decided to try.

"I wanted to make you happy," he said, once again looking away from Ryoken and instead focusing on the floor. "I'm sorry."

The last part was vague, but he knew Ryoken would get it. He always did, somehow.

A gentle hand brushed against his cheek, and then Ryoken moved himself in to kiss Yusaku lightly on the forehead. Even though they had been together for so long, now, Yusaku couldn't help but grow warm at the affection. "There's nothing to be sorry for," he said, and Yusaku leaned into Ryoken's touch.

"I should've known, though," Yusaku confessed, still feeling foolish. "I'm sorry."

Ryoken shook his head, and wrapped his free arm around Yusaku's back. "I don't know what's gotten into you," he said, voice a little chiding, "but everything is fine. I'm glad you made me some chocolate, but it certainly wasn't necessary." He sighed a little, and Yusaku knew Ryoken was smiling by the way he spoke. "Don't you think I would've said something to you by now?"

That was… fair. Despite their interpersonal issues, Ryoken had always done his best to make himself open and honest with Yusaku, especially concerning their relationship. Every time there was something Ryoken wanted to change, he would bring it up as soon as possible; not liking to let it linger in his head. It had taken around a year to comfortably _get _to that point, but now that they were there, Ryoken was determined not to stop it. They'd spent too long, apparently, running circles around each other that he had grown sick of it.

Even so, it was hard to imagine Ryoken wasn't just a _little _bit bothered by his lack of interest in romantic holidays and issues with intimacy. However, if those things weren't enough to bother him into _talking _about it…

Yusaku felt like an idiot, again. He'd let Spectre completely manipulate him into this - probably because he just wanted to make Ryoken happy, too. It wasn't the worst thing Spectre had ever coerced him into, but Yusaku never liked being played like a fiddle.

"At least you got free chocolate out of it," Yusaku said, frowning a bit as Ryoken pulled away. "You better enjoy those. I worked hard on them."

Chuckling, Ryoken placed a fourth one into his mouth. "I will," he said, feigning seriousness. "They'll keep me company on my drive to the Knights."

Yusaku almost gagged. The chocolates weren't even particularly _sweet_, but Yusaku couldn't imagine eating all eight of them in practically a single sitting. "You're the worst."

"I am," Ryoken agreed, tuning around to head back to the door. "And yet somehow, you made me chocolate. Curious, isn't it?"

He was too much, sometimes. Shooing him off, Yusaku turned back around, ready to get himself together to go get some errands done. "Whatever. See you when you get home."

Though he hadn't done so with the intention of doing it every year, Yusaku thought, after Ryoken had left and he was alone with his thoughts once more, doing it next year might not be so bad. Picking up his phone to text Aoi, Yusaku smiled genuinely for the first time in awhile; the guilt that had been eating at him finally set to rest.

_To: Aoi Zaizen  
__From: Yusaku Fujiki  
__He liked them. Thanks._

He almost put his phone away, but then thought better of it, opening up a new text message.

_To: Spectre  
__From: Yusaku Fujiki  
__I hate you.  
_

_To: Yusaku Fujiki  
__From: Spectre  
__I'll be sure to let Ryoken know._

* * *

**Notes**

And there we go! I can't wait to read everything that everyone writes for this week, I'm really excited. I've been so stressed and exhausted lately, this is exactly what I needed to rejuvenate haha. Also, today is my boyfriend's and I eighth anniversary! Basically that means sorry if it takes me awhile to respond to comments LOL. I'll see you guys tomorrow!


End file.
